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September 5, 2024 at 4:05 pm in reply to: injury situation going into game 1…including, Darious Wms out #152078
znModeratorJourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigueThe Rams put Darious Williams on injured reserve with a hamstring issue. This is significant – backup Cobie Durant was also dealing with a hamstring..Cameron DaSilva@camdasilvaDarious Williams: Out 4 gamesTre’Davious White: Coming off torn AchillesCobie Durant: Hamstring injuryAfter that, it’s UDFAs Charles Woods and Josh Wallace.
Rams secondary went from revamped to pretty darn concerning.
znModeratorUh…okay. McVay was a big part of the problem there. But McVay isn’t a “domineering head coach” who put “training wheels” on Stafford, so maybe Goff’s problem in LA was not just that his coach didn’t trust him. There were reasons the coach didn’t trust him.
I don’t agree actually. McVay was openly and derisively impatient with Goff once he became the de facto qb coach starting in 2019. He was pushing Goff into doing certain things that he, McVay, wanted to do, and Goff wasn’t really ready for or especially adept at doing. It was a confidence issue, which led a former Rams coach, who I am pretty sure was Zak Taylor, to say that McV knew how to tear Goff down but not how to build him back up. And McV did put training wheels on him–that was the whole talking into the helmet thing, that New England took advantage of in that super bowl, where Goff just didn’t know how to respond to the new and unexpected things the defense was showing him.
The difference in Detroit was that Goff and Johnson built the passing game together around Goff’s strengths and the things Goff liked to do, so that was a case study in confidence building.
The difference in LA was that McV was always going to respect the long time veteran Stafford, so they have both described their relationship as collaborative.
Another coach, in 2019, would have built around the qb’s strengths. McV instead was basically saying “keep up! why can’t you keep up?” I mean, you know, we’ll see about Bennett, but so far in his career McV has never developed a young qb. In 2017 and 2018, both years, he had accomplished and very involved qb coaches who could mediate between the qb and McVay. One of those was Zak Taylor, the coach I mentioned as saying McV worked against Goff’s confidence. After 2019 McV became the de facto qb coach though, and I think it made a difference.
After 2022 McV talked about how he fell into bad habits that season and he had to rethink how he did things, and I think the signs are that losing the way they did that year brought out his worst kinds of impatience and his habit of riding people. I think he was doing that with Goff in 2019 and 2020, and then crashed into that tendency of his in 2022 and had to reinvent how he approached coaching. Which he obviously did, and that’s part of what makes him great. It took a bad year for that to happen, but still, some guys actually don’t learn from bad years, so that’s to McV’s credit.
In terms of qb comparisons, Goff is a very good qb and Stafford is a HOF level qb. And I defended the trade the minute it happened. My take was that Goff at that stage of his development was not in a good “marriage” with McV at that stage in his development. With a bad marriage, you move on, and I thought that Stafford would work better with McV. McV didn’t have to develop Stafford, if anything he would benefit from listening to him. Which I think is what happened and I think this is an especially good HC/qb marriage.
znModeratorHow has Goff been able to reinvent himself in the Motor City and how has he morphed into the ideal fit in Johnson’s offense?
Goff hasn’t morphed into the ideal fit for offensive coordinator Ben Johnson’s offense so much as he was a part of its creation. Both Goff and Johnson looked at how the veteran quarterback was successful and developed an offense that plays to its signal-callers strengths. There’s a lot of variety, there’s a lot of deception in terms of different plays being run out of the same looks, a lot of pre-snap motion and play-action. It’s an offense that lives over the middle and really utilizes that space from hash to hash.
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Goff was finally trusted to not be a quarterback surrogate for a domineering head coach. He’s proven his football acumen by more often than not, making the right checks at the line of scrimmage, delivering the ball to where it should go based on the defense in front of him, and just, you know, quarterbacking without training wheels.
znModeratorRams Bros.@RamsBrothers
Byron Young: played 917 defensive snaps in 2023, the most by a rookie defender in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016).Kobie Turner (now a team captain): played 660 defensive snaps in 2023, over 100 more than any other rookie DT.
Can’t wait to see what these two do in year 2, with Verse and Fiske by their sides (stats per
@NFLPlus)znModerator48: Jared Goff (QB, Lions) | Top 100 Players of 2024
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znModeratorLos Angeles Rams PR@TheLARamsPRPer @NextGenStats, the Rams duo of OLB Byron Young (@byron_97) and DE Kobie Turner (@TurnerKobie) finished last season with a combined 110 quarterback pressures, the most by any rookie duo since 2018.znModeratorJAKE ELLENBOGEN@JKBOGENAccording to Sports Info Solutions, #Rams CB Darious Williams had a deserved catch percentage last year of 67.2% and a targeted passer rating of 46.1. Both of those rank 1st in the NFL for the 2023 season among all cornerbacks.znModeratorHe does the Rams at 1:28 in.
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znModeratorLook at this paragraph.
Classic Rodrigue.
My suspicion, too, is that Avila’s return to left guard is in part motivated by how much of the screen game he activates — he is truly gifted in that phase — combined with the fact that keeping that element in the playbook also helps counter pressure. Is it ideal to be shuffling this much so close to the season opener in Detroit? No. But injuries and absences aren’t, either, and my read of all of this is that the Rams are trying to make the best of an already tough situation.
That’s a pretty nuanced take. But it’s also crystal clear, and reading it just feels like you’re just chatting with her over lunch. Meanwhile it’s also perceptive and lucid, and entirely based on being a good football observer.
She’s both too good for us 😎 AND what we as fans have always deserved.
znModeratorJourdan Rodrigue, from:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5738891/2024/09/04/los-angeles-rams-observations-preview-week-1/?the best of an already tough situation.Players/coaches/topics we aren’t talking about enough
Because the Rams so outperformed expectations in 2023 with a relatively unknown group, I have decided we should probably get ahead of a couple players and coaches people should be talking about:
• Avila. I think the second-year lineman has a real shot at cementing himself among the best in the NFL this season.
• Jordan Whittington. The rookie receiver was my sleeper way back in the spring, and will clearly factor into the offense in some way this season (though isn’t a lead target). Whittington was a former running back whose catch-and-run ability is more fullback-like, if a fullback was also pretty dang fast.
• Eric Yarber, receivers coach. Can this veteran coach get more attention for churning out receiver after receiver who McVay couldn’t have dreamed up any better for his system over the years?
• Ryan Wendell, offensive line coach. Wendell’s work with not one, but three potential starting centers this summer is notable as was his management of backups Warren McClendon and Joe Noteboom at the tackle spots when the starters got hurt.
• Aubrey Pleasant, pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach. People ask me every year, “who is the next coach to ascend out of McVay’s staff?” This year or in the coming years, I believe it’s Pleasant — who is, at the very least, on a defensive coordinator track.
• Braden Fiske. I didn’t want to make a big deal about how Fiske was moving in the early days of camp because players didn’t have pads on. His hands were right, and so were his feet. When pads went on and later when the Rams got into joint practices, it became clear that Fiske could match his technique with power, speed, and a tenacity that will probably irritate offensive linemen over time. Fiske rarely finishes a practice without one of his pants/tights getting ripped to shreds because he just doesn’t stop churning his legs through blocks. Am I now making too big of a deal about the rookie second-rounder? Probably. But when he pairs with first-round pick Jared Verse (who also very much looks the part), you can see why the Rams’ staff was so excited to get them together.
• How much the Rams like all three of their running backs (Kyren Williams, Blake Corum and Ronnie Rivers) and all three of their tight ends (Colby Parkinson, Davis Allen, Hunter Long).
• The run defense minus Aaron Donald. I believe the Rams will find ways to get pressure, but I remain skeptical about how the smaller-sized, still-developing group will fare against physical running schemes, particularly those they will face in their first three games this season (Lions, Cardinals, 49ers).
znModeratorJourdan Rodrigue, from:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5738891/2024/09/04/los-angeles-rams-observations-preview-week-1/?the best of an already tough situation.Safety dance
I am geeking out over how I’m seeing new defensive coordinator Chris Shula experiment with his deep safeties room. Shula had long had fingerprints on that group, whether as a position coach or as a member of the talent identification committee along with scouts.
I observed the defense closely all summer to see what “coordinator personality” will emerge from the reserved, soft-spoken longtime position coach and his 2024 defense. So far, it has featured clean, fundamental football, stickier coverage thanks to significant veteran updates in the secondary (this is still a predominantly zone/match zone team, before anyone loses their mind), and cornerbacks and safeties who understand they will need to help out a very young group of pass rushers by covering well to allow the pressure to get home as they develop into their high potential. I am particularly interested in increased safety usage in sub packages such as nickel and dime, including counters to how teams will try to attack the middle of the field and use pre-snap motions and shifts against the Rams. It could be a big year for new captain (and “Star”/big nickel) Quentin Lake. Of course, this is all theory and observation gleaned from practice — things could always change once the real football starts.
Speaking of which …
Depending more on safeties instead of extra cornerbacks and inside linebackers may be another reason the Rams felt comfortable moving on from former team captain and starter Ernest Jones late last month. Multiple things are true about that situation: Jones was still getting his legs under him with the rest of the defense and a new coordinator after a knee injury sidelined him all spring. He wasn’t able to truly do football activities until training camp. Because the Rams (publicly) decided they were not going to extend him ahead of his fourth season, they seemed averse to giving him extra time — opting instead for the risk of playing veterans Troy Reeder and/or Christian Rozeboom in the short term, and maintaining belief that rookie Omar Speights will eventually hold an important role in the long term. Coaches were very high on Speights out of camp.
General manager Les Snead has a saying: If it is inevitable, make it immediate. The Rams had been in conversations with teams on Jones through the later weeks of camp. Real game planning for the opener and beyond begins two weeks before the start of the season. The Rams kept the situation fluid as they took calls, but had to make a final decision after the joint practices in Houston. This was not as “sudden” as it looked (or felt, unless you’re a Rams executive). In fact, the first signal toward Jones possibly not being in as safe a spot as one would think a captain would be was Snead’s willingness to state on the record at league meetings in March that the Rams would let Jones play out his fourth season without an extension. That might as well have been a waving flag to other teams conveying the Rams were open for business. Jones was a true leader for the Rams and a talented blitzer (4 1/2 sacks in 2023) and figures to be a great fit for Dennard Wilson’s blitz-heavy scheme in Tennessee.
znModeratorJourdan Rodrigue, from:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5738891/2024/09/04/los-angeles-rams-observations-preview-week-1/?source=emp_shared_articleOffensive line concerns
The position the Rams put so much money into this spring is in question out of the gate because of injuries and left tackle Alaric Jackson’s suspension. With more help needed on the left side in the interim, coaches moved Steve Avila back to left guard early last week and installed Jonah Jackson at center (where Avila had been working since the spring). I started asking into this topic with sources in Houston at joint practices, when I spotted rookie center Beaux Limmer also getting a shot with the first-team. There’s no complaint about Avila’s play at center. No, this is all about figuring out how best to help vulnerable positions (left and right tackle) with Alaric Jackson and possibly Rob Havenstein out and which combinations work best in that regard. Jonah Jackson wasn’t back from a shoulder injury when Limmer repped in, which is why the Rams couldn’t test him at center until last week. But this has been in discussion since the two tackles respectively hurt their ankles (and reiterated when the Rams received news of the suspension). Jackson told me on Monday that he’s been trying to get back to playing center, which he calls a “natural” position for him, for a little while now and hopes to seize this as an opportunity.
My suspicion, too, is that Avila’s return to left guard is in part motivated by how much of the screen game he activates — he is truly gifted in that phase — combined with the fact that keeping that element in the playbook also helps counter pressure. Is it ideal to be shuffling this much so close to the season opener in Detroit? No. But injuries and absences aren’t, either, and my read of all of this is that the Rams are trying to make the best of an already tough situation.
Havenstein was able to take part in at least some of the individual drills Monday, but head coach Sean McVay wasn’t sure at that time whether he can play Sunday night and said they would use every day they have to determine that.
Speaking of which …
One under-the-radar offensive line story from camp? Logan Bruss, the oft-injured and embattled former third-round draft pick, finally seems to have put things together. One of my favorite moments of camp was after the first preseason game, when I caught Bruss smiling and dancing to practice music as the offensive line stretched and warmed up. I don’t think I’d seen Bruss smile at practice in his first two years in Los Angeles. His growing confidence is apparent, and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur took notice, too.
“He just hasn’t stopped. When it looked like it maybe was not going to work out for him, and he knows that, he just kept pushing through and those are the really cool ones right there, where you’re not sure. The player’s not sure,” said LaFleur. “Which you never want as a coach to see a player have to go through that. For him to just keep battling last year behind the scenes (and) on the practice squad, doing it in the scout team fashion then to be able to get his opportunities.”
Bruss has backed up Kevin Dotson at right guard.
znModeratorJourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigueNever put too much stock in the team-released depth charts each year, but one Rams item merited followup – Sean McVay confirms that Blake Corum may possibly return kicks. Group has also included Jordan Whittington, Tutu Atwell. McVay said earlier Kyren Williams will return punts.September 4, 2024 at 10:18 pm in reply to: injury situation going into game 1…including, Darious Wms out #152063znModeratorJourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigueRob Havenstein was able to participate in at least the media’s viewing portion of practice today, and also in the walkthrough earlier today. First injury report of the new season rolls out later today, but expect he will be listed as limited per McVay.…Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigueThe first Rams/Lions injury report of the week…znModeratorRams Bros.@RamsBrothersSean McVay is the 4th longest tenured head coach in the NFL. Gearing up for year #8:• 2-0 in the NFCC• 2 Super Bowl appearances, 1 Lombardi• Still just 38 years old, 2nd youngest coach in NFLznModeratorI posted something here a couple of hours ago. I am not sure why we have constant problems here. But I’m losing my patience. What’s the rule? Don’t post two links at the same time? Don’t link anything? I’m getting tired of this.
The simplest solution is to make you an admin, which gives you access to fixing it when it happens. It’s not that hard to fix it when you know how. The problem is I am not always here 24/7. So if we make you an admin, if a post gets “pended,” a few seconds later, it’s fixed. You game?
znModeratorRicky Pearsall was released from the hospital yesterday, and didn’t need surgery for his injury. I don’t know how long it takes to recover from a bullet wound, but I guess it didn’t hit any organs, so no lasting damage
Or a bone? A rib, a scapula? How the hell is it possible not to hit either an organ or a bone? Nobody comes back from a rib injury in 4 weeks. I assume if a bullet hit a rib…you know. Of course, the fact he’s on the list for 4 weeks doesn’t mean he will be back in 4 weeks, but the guy was in the hospital just over night. Wow.
“If the bullet actually transects the chest, goes from the front to the back you know the chance of having a very serious injury is very high, and so frankly this football player was very lucky if indeed he was able to be discharged from the hospital you know within 24 hours,” Stanford Professor of Medicine Dr. Dean Winslow said.
He is not one of Pearsall’s doctors and has only seen the images ABC7 has seen, but Winslow is very familiar with bullet wounds to the chest.
“And certainly this is the kind of injury that sadly we would see commonly in soldiers, airmen, marines wounded in combat in Afghanistan during my time when I served there,” Dr. Winslow said.
UCSF’s Dr. Jahan Fahimi is the Medical Director of the Emergency Department, and also not one of Pearsall’s doctors but is well-versed in injuries caused by guns.
“In general being shot somewhere in the torso and chest area is a very high-risk injury,” Dr. Fahimi said. “The biggest thing you worry about is an injury to the heart or one of the arteries that comes off of the heart, usually those are instantly fatal or very life-threatening.”
The two doctors add that injuries to the lungs and spine can also be a huge danger with a chest-related shooting. Pearsall’s release though leads both to believe that his injuries are likely not as severe, which could possibly mean a recovery lasting weeks versus many months. Dr. Fahimi even said that a release from the hospital this quickly is rare.
“It’s the minority of patients who can say that they have had that experience, who have been shot in the chest, and say they’ve been able to walk out a day later. I think that’s extremely fortunate,” he said.
znModeratorznModeratorBrian Baldinger@BaldyNFL @RamsNFL @beaux_knows_showed throughout preseason that he belongs on the Rams 53. @RazorbackFB link for vid: https://x.com/BaldyNFL/status/1830646667697070169
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Hailed as a steal for a sixth round pick for the Rams when it happened, Limmer’s preseason may have only solidified that narrative. Perhaps the only question will be, “How soon could Limmer even get into a game while the Rams still have Steve Avila and Jonah Jackson?
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In a review of some of his preseason film, NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger praised Limmer as one of the best surprises of the year so far and highlighted his ability to push around 2023 first round pick Mazi Smith and putting him into place so that L.A.’s running backs could make their way to the second level.
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Baldinger praises Limmer’s movement, staying square, vision, reads, getting to the second level, and his ability to move people around to open running lanes.
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“Beaux Limmer is taking Mazi Smith right off the ball right here. It’s everything. The guy just looks like he knows what he’s doing: Pointing out the mike, understanding the blitz concepts, his eyes are in the right place, he’s got the movement to come over and just shove people to the ground. There’s a physical presence to him in the middle.”znModeratorJourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
The Rams are hiring Scott Frost, per team and league sources.
Stu Jackson@StuJRams
Sean McVay confirmed Scott Frost is joining the Rams’ coaching staff. McVay said Frost will help out special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn in that phase, but also be involved on offense and defense.September 3, 2024 at 9:46 am in reply to: injury situation going into game 1…including, Darious Wms out #152049znModeratorStu Jackson@StuJRamsSean McVay on Rob Havenstein, who did some work during the individual period of today’s practice: “He was able to take part in a good amount of stuff, and so it was positive.” Have contingency plans for whether Havenstein can or can’t play vs. LionsznModeratori think he was pulling our leg.
Either way a leg is involved. His or ours?
September 2, 2024 at 8:10 pm in reply to: roster aszesz…uh, azsehs…asysamint…(?) … roster ideas #152043znModeratorfrom https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-bold-predictions-all-32-nfl-teams-2024#NYG
Los Angeles Rams: TEAM FIELDS A TOP-3 OFFENSE
Is this prediction a bit ambiguous? Yes; it could be true in multiple categories. The Rams fielded a top-10 offense in several categories last season: PFF overall grades, scoring offense and EPA per play, for example.
Matthew Stafford is capable of playing at an elite level (we saw it many times last season), the run game is strong and the Rams will hopefully have Cooper Kupp paired with Puka Nacua for even more games this year. The defense may be another story, but stopping the Rams’ offense every week is going to be one of the more difficult challenges in the league.
znModeratorBlaine Grisak @bgrisakTSTfind it interesting that the Rams opted to move Steve Avila back to left guard after signing Jonah Jackson and wonder if that is long-term. Prior to Creed Humphrey’s extension, Jackson’s $17M/yr. would have reset the center market.znModeratorBrian Baldinger@BaldyNFL@RamsNFL @beaux_knows_showed throughout preseason that he belongs on the Rams 53.znModeratorRams Bros.@RamsBrothers@AndrewWhitworth thinks the #Rams are going to make a run at a Super Bowl if the offensive line stays healthy Also said the defense is going to be much improved, despite losing AD99 because all of the inexperience they had on the roster last year…znModeratorBrian Baldinger@BaldyNFL
@Lions v @RamsNFL wildcard weekend. The Detroit #OnePride defense played great Red Zone defense to force FG’s to escape with a 24-23 WIN. What will be the difference in @SNFonNBC@speed_kills@speedk1lls
yup that was the difference. The Rams punted what once or twice the entire game. It was their inability to score in the red zone two of those were inside the 10. I personally would have liked to see them stick with Kyren down there. Let’s see if they can change up next Sunday!!znModeratorthat had to be scary. glad to hear no surgery was needed.
Bullet went right through and exited out the back without striking vital organs.
Another reference to The Wire.
Omar: The way you bleedin’ out your back look like that bullet bore clean through.
Brother Mouzone: A 9mm at close range will do that.
September 2, 2024 at 11:51 am in reply to: roster aszesz…uh, azsehs…asysamint…(?) … roster ideas #152032znModeratorFrom NFL team previews 2024: Predictions, rankings, depth charts: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/41001745/nfl-team-previews-2024-predictions-fantasy-sleepers-rankings-depth-charts#lar
13. Los Angeles Rams
FPI’s overall ranking: No. 13
Chances to win division: 18.2%
Chances to make the playoffs: 47.2%
Projected wins: 8.8
Strength of schedule: 10th hardestBiggest strength: The Rams return the majority of an offense that started clicking down the stretch last season to lead them to a playoff berth. A big part of that was Matthew Stafford, who ranked second in QBR (72.8) and was tied for third in passing touchdowns (16) from Weeks 11 to 18. With a healthy Cooper Kupp returning alongside second-year receiver Puka Nacua, Los Angeles hopes it can find its way back to the playoffs. — Sarah Barshop
Biggest concern: After Aaron Donald’s retirement, the Rams will be heavily dependent on their young defense, led by new coordinator Chris Shula. Los Angeles has used draft capital to build up the unit the past two years, but the Rams will need to see continued growth from second-year players DE Kobie Turner and LB Byron Young. The unit won’t have the benefit of having Donald, who was double-teamed on a league-high 311 pass-rush plays last season, to take off pressure. — Barshop
Stat to know: Stafford could join the short list of NFL quarterbacks to reach 60,000 passing yards. He sits at 56,047 and has averaged 4,424 yards in seasons when he started at least 15 games.
Fantasy sleeper candidate: RB Blake Corum. Starting running back Kyren Williams missed four games last season due to injury, and the Rams invested a third-round pick on Corum in this year’s draft. At 5-foot-8, 210 pounds, with the contact balance to produce between the tackles, Corum is a seamless fit for an offense that has become more gap-heavy in the run game. Corum, who rushed for 24 touchdowns at Michigan last season, can be targeted in all formats as a top insurance back. — Bowen
Bold prediction for 2024: Tight end Colby Parkinson will score eight-plus touchdowns. I’m buying a major role increase for Parkinson, who played less than half of Seattle’s offensive snaps last season but now is in L.A., where Tyler Higbee played at least 86% of snaps in games he took part in during each of the past three seasons. With Higbee out with a torn ACL and MCL suffered in January, the TE1 role looks like Parkinson’s now. I think the 6-foot-7 tight end will haul in quite a few short touchdown passes from Stafford while opponents focus on stopping Nacua and Kupp. — Walder
znModeratorRams Bros.@RamsBrothers• 9 receptions on 10 targets• 20.11 yards per reception• 182 yards (most by a rookie in a post season game EVER)• 1 TD.roberto clemente@rclemente2121the rams week 1 offensive lines since mcvay took over in 2017 – if havenstein can’t go, it will mark the first time he’s ever missed week 1. this will also be the 3rd center and 4th right guard staff has taken the field with in week 1, in the 4 years staff has been in horns. -
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